Stacey Woods
Donald Macleod
Date posted: 1 Nov 2007
We have recently seen intense debates in the UK and the US about whether a student organisation may legitimately demand of members and speakers an adherence to a statement of faith.
C. Stacey Woods, a name not widely known, set in place the vital importance of credal definition for an evangelical university movement.
Brethren missions
David Smith
Date posted: 1 Nov 2005
Book Review
FATHER OF FAITH MISSIONS
The life and times of Anthony Norris Groves
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A trembling light on a stand
Natalie Tunbridge
Date posted: 1 Dec 2007
Raymond woke from his broken sleep with a dull ache in the pit of his stomach and an overpowering sense of fear that made his heart beat loudly in his chest. Today was the day he was to voyage to the northern shores of Africa. His passage on board the vessel had been secured for weeks, and his missionary articles were stowed ready. The vessel only waited upon him.
From the open window, the town of Genoa seemed to buzz with public anticipation of his bold ambitions to share Jesus Christ with those of the faith that Europe fought in the on-going Crusades. Picking up his quill pen, he wrote. ‘I am overwhelmed with terror at the thought of what might befall me in the country whither I am going. . .’ The quill shook uncontrollably in his hand. ‘. . . The idea of enduring torture or lifelong imprisonment presents itself with such force that I cannot control my emotions.’
God's border crossing
Ed Beavan
Date posted: 1 Dec 2007
As The God Delusion continues to ride high in best-selling booklists globally, many Christians find this rising tide of hostility towards the gospel deeply discouraging.
But one Scottish minister has grabbed the opportunity created by this anti-God literary phenomenon to take the good news of Jesus back to the nation.
Why join a small church?
John Benton
Date posted: 1 Dec 2007
A Christian married couple I know of had to move out of London and leave their church to go north with the husband’s job.
Much to the surprise of some of their long-term Christian pals they began attending the little and very local Anglican church in the village to which they had moved. The friends of the couple had concerns. The church was small, the teaching was not heretical but it was not great, and there was nothing there for their four children.
The Third Degree
Becci Brown
Date posted: 1 Oct 2007
‘My desire is for students to renew their confidence in the gospel and their commitment to passing it on’, enthused Hugh Palmer, one of the keynote speakers at UCCF’s national CU leaders’ training conference, Forum, in early September at the Quinta Centre in Shropshire.
Engaging with God’s Word, so that CU leaders return to their universities better equipped to speak the gospel out, has always been the objective of Forum. This year’s conference, entitled Trans-mission, pursued that vision in a number of ways.
Father of the Korean Church
Mike Harris
Date posted: 1 Sep 2007
A few years ago, I planned to work as a TESOL teacher in my retirement.
Having obtained the certificate, I waited. My first enquirer was a Korean who went on to get his PhD and is now on a pastoral team back in his own country. He was the first of many Christian brothers I met doing theology or defence studies at Aberdeen University.
Letter from America
God's got no politics
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Nov 2007
So here’s the kind of question I most commonly get asked about our church. Not ‘what do you believe?’, not ‘what is your vision for the church?’, not even ‘what kind of programmes do you have for our children?’ No, the question I most commonly get asked — by outsiders, you understand — is ‘who do people vote for?’
The election is still a year away (November 2008…), but already positioning is going on for the religious vote. Rudy Giuliani, famed former mayor of New York City, is trying to deal with the possible negative repercussions of his well-known pro-abortion stance. Conservatives, it is felt, will not possibly support him for that single reason. And, in fact, an influential group called The Council for National Policy, has voted that if Giuliani is nominated as the Republican presidential candidate they will seek to form a Third Party. That’s fighting talk.
Sinfully monochrome
Christopher Bennett
Date posted: 1 Nov 2007
Book Review
DYNAMIC DIVERSITY
The new humanity church for today and tomorrow
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Really useful!
Trevor Lewis
Date posted: 1 Nov 2007
Book Review
GOD’S OUTRAGEOUS CLAIMS
Discover what they mean for you
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Church planting
Graham Heaps
Date posted: 1 Sep 2007
In this brief article on the vital subject of church planting, I am drawing principles from Acts 16.
An approach that is more practical, and that gives insights into the ways of reaching our materialistic and apathetic society, would be very valuable, but is beyond my competence.
Redeemed
Charlene E. Cothran
Date posted: 1 Sep 2007
Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues.
As the publisher of a 13-year-old periodical which targets black gays and lesbians, I have had the opportunity to publicly address thousands, influencing closeted people to ‘come out’ and stand up for themselves, which is particularly difficult in the African-American community.
Sex on the screen
John Steley
Date posted: 1 Oct 2007
In 2006, The Independent on Sunday reported that almost 40% of the male population of Britain had used pornographic websites in the previous year.
The study by Nielsen NetRatings also showed that 1.4 million women in Britain had used online pornography in the same period.1 I would like to think that the situation among Christians is totally different. Sadly, this is not the case.
Ebony eyes
Sarah Wray
Date posted: 1 Oct 2007
Book Review
BLACK VOICES
The shaping of our Christian experience
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Sarah
John Benton
Date posted: 1 Oct 2007
Music Review
Beating Time SARAH: Amazing Grace (CD)
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Music
Chris Hayward remembered
Richard Simpkin
Date posted: 1 Oct 2007
Chris Hayward was the first person I met who convinced me that it was possible to be an evangelical whilst being dedicated to music.
Chris oversaw the music at the Round Church in Cambridge when I first came across him. My immediate reaction to him was deep and selfish jealousy. This was because I heard him as a musician before I met him as a person. I was jealous that, though he was primarily an oboist, his keyboard skills far outshone mine, even though I was an organ scholar at the time. He used to use a spectacular ‘fill’ in the breaks between verses, which I sweated for hours to try and copy. God had given him a very natural musical ability.
Mongolia: a lesson to learn
John Gibbens
Date posted: 1 Aug 2007
John Gibbens has given the following moving account of the progress of the gospel in Mongolia, underlining the need for careful translation of the Scriptures.
Mongolia, under Genghis Khan, became the world’s greatest empire, stretching from China and Korea to Central Europe. Mongolians have a history of atheism, with strong Shamanist and Tibetan Buddhist superstitions. Marco Polo noted in the 13th century that Mongolians revere any religion, saying it is the best when it is to their advantage. Mongolia also has influences from Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism and Chinese philosophy. Mongolians comprise what is said to be a people group numbering some ten million people over Mongolia, China and Russia.
Music
What to do with choral atheists
Richard Simpkin
Date posted: 1 Sep 2007
There is a mission field that I’ve always struggled to know how to reach with the gospel. It’s made up of what I call ‘choral atheists’.
These are people who belong to church choirs or choral societies, they sing Christ-centred works like Bach’s Matthew Passion or Handel’s Messiah, and yet they don’t believe a word of what they sing. To be honest, I find that choral atheists are more hardened to the gospel than anyone else I meet. Just as hardened are the non-believers who like to listen to this music, which, though I don’t like the definition, I’ll refer to as sacred music.
Islamophilia
Malcolm Steer
Date posted: 1 Sep 2007
Book Review
GRACE FOR MUSLIMS
The journey from fear to faith
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Postcode apartheid
Ray Pountney
Date posted: 1 Aug 2007
Ray Pountney of West Hill Baptist Church in Wandsworth knows about SW London’s emerging gang culture.